Chapter III: The Week Before the Battle

Embarkation of Friendlies--The Shabluka Cataract--Our
Delay at Rojan Island--First Glimpse of Omdurman--The
Evening Ride from Hagir--The Joys of
Good Health--Sudanese Wives--Importance of the
"Drink Camel"--An Adventurous Greekling--Mr.
Villiers' Bicycle--Um Teref Camp--Sudanese Music--The
First Dervish--Scorpion v. the "Father of
Spiders"--A Cavalry Reconnaissance--A Rainy
Night--Within Twenty-five Miles of Omdurman--Deserted
Villages--A Disappointing Capture--Seg-et-Taib--The
Water Question--Corpses in the River--The
Khalifa's Army in Sight--The Ridge of Kerreri--Sururab--Gunboats
at Work--Troublesome
Donkeys--Sniping--A Tropical Downpour spoils our
Rest--Mr. Villiers and Myself stung by Scorpions--Chasing
Hares on the March--Cavalry Scouts on
Kerreri--Howitzers in Action--Skirmishing with the
Khalifa's Cavalry--Waiting for the Dervish Advance--The
Khalifa halts--The Evening before the Battle--The
Perils of a Night Attack--False Alarms 105

CHAPTER IV

THE BATTLE OF OMDURMAN

A Comfortable Breakfast--All ready for the Dervishes--Egyptian
Cavalry engage the Enemy--Gunboats to
the Rescue--The Joy of Battle--Here they come!--A
Splendid Spectacle--The Dervishes open Fire--The
First Shell--A Dervish Battery--Effect of our
Shell Fire--Wounded Men--Curious Tricks played by
Bullets--Maxims at Work--A Dervish Cavalry
Charge--Persistent Sharpshooters--The Army leaves
the Zeriba--The Lancers' Charge--Mutilation of the
Dead--Wounded Horses--Killing the Wounded
Dervishes--Renewal of the Fight--Steadiness of the
Sudanese and Egyptians--Final Repulse of the
Enemy--Dreadful Effects of our Fire--Men falling
out--We halt beside a _Khor_--Regimental Music--Escape
of the Khalifa--Death of Hon. Hubert
Howard--A Champagne Dinner in the Street--The
End of Mahdism 156

CHAPTER V

GUNBOATS AND GAALIN

The Sirdar's Fleet--Difficulties of Navigation--The Loss
of the _Zaphir_--Concentration of Friendlies at Wad
Hamed--Their Love for Firearms--Rout of a Dervish
Detachment--Gunboats shell the Kerreri Ridge and
Riverside Villages--Some Faint-hearted Friendlies--Gallantry
of the Gaalin--Tuti Island--The Shelling
of the Mahdi's Tomb--Gunboats silence the Forts--Lyddite
Shells--Maxim Fire upon the Fugitives--Gunboats
proceed up the River--The Fate of Gordon's
old Flotilla 203